Tim Sullivan | Bo Ryan didn't need Final 4 validation

UK head coach John Calipari, center, shares a laugh with Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan, right, as they spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Moderator Mark Fratto was at left. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK head coach John Calipari, left, and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK head coach John Calipari, left, and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan, right, and UK head coach John Calipari, spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK head coach John Calipari, left, and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK head coach John Calipari, left, shares a laugh with Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan, as they spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK head coach John Calipari, left, and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan shared a handshake following a press conference ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

UK's Julius Randle, center, spoke to the media as Wisconsin's Ben Brust, right, and moderator Mark Fratto, left, looked on ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

(L-R) UK's Julius Randle spoke to the media as Wisconsin's Ben Brust, UConn's Niels Giffey and Florida's Scottie Wilbekin looked on ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

Florida head coach Billy Donovan, right, and UConn head coach Kevin Ollie spoke to the press ahead of their Final Four match up at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Mar. 30, 2014 Sam Upshaw Jr.; The Courier-Jour

ARLINGTON, Texas – Bo Ryan has not found validation at the Final Four.

Strangely enough, he was not really looking for it.

The University of Wisconsin's wry coach has lived too long and won too much to be defined by a single basketball tournament. Amid preparations for Saturday's national semifinal against Kentucky, Ryan was asked Thursday what an NCAA Championship would mean for his legacy. He responded with appropriate solemnity.

"I think there would be a lot more cheese sold across the country," Ryan said. "And some other products that I probably shouldn't mention. ..."

Pause. Rim shot.

The C-J's Final Four of Jeff Greer, Adam Himmelsbach, Kyle Tucker and Tim Sullivan talk Kentucky and the 2014 Final Four from AT&T Stadium. Video by Matt Stone, The Courier-Journal

"What the state of Wisconsin is known for."

If beer is what made Milwaukee famous, the city of Madison is on the map at least in part because of Bo Ryan basketball. In 13 seasons as Boss of the Badgers, Ryan has surpassed Bobby Knight to establish the highest win-loss percentage in Big Ten Conference history and is one of five active men's coaches with more than 700 career victories.

If his body of work has been overshadowed by contemporaries in higher-profile programs, the most obvious differences between the 66-year-old Ryan and Florida's Billy Donovan and UK's John Calipari are his notoriously grinding style of play and the size of his stage. He won four NCAA titles at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville — twice with undefeated teams — and his methods have survived the transition to better talent and tougher competition with gratifying results.

UK's John Calipari and Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan take questions from media in Dallas at the Final Four Thursday.
Video Courtesy of the NCAA

Not every coach is capable of attracting McDonald's All-Americans. Not every coach can function under the excessive expectations and microscopic mania that exist in Lexington, Ky. Not every elite player wants to be part of a program renowned for sucking the speed and spontaneity out of basketball and turning it into trench warfare.

Still, in terms of the Xs and the Os, Bo Ryan rates an unequivocal A.

"We coaches do not look at this the way you all look at this," Calipari told reporters Thursday. "We just don't. ... Do you know how many coaches are out there that maybe are not at the school that would help them get there? Or there are coaches who took teams to an Elite 8, that's like winning a national title at the school they were at.

"So I don't think we evaluate any coach based on Final Fours or who made it, national titles. We just know who can coach, who is a good guy, who gets their teams better, who cares about those kids. We know those guys. If they made it to the Final Four, great. If they didn't, that didn't change my opinion of them."

The two coaches were seated together on a raised platform at AT&T Stadium, more like colleagues at a conference than rivals competing for a common goal, and they played off each other as if they had rehearsed.

When asked about having to act as a psychiatrist for his young team, Calipari deadpanned: "How did you know I was seeing a psychiatrist?"

"All I got to say to Cal," Ryan said, "is when somebody asks me about one-and-done, all I remember is when my mom would give me a pork chip or a piece of meatloaf and I would ask for another piece. And she would say, 'No, one-and-done.' "

He was being polite, and trying to be funny. Ryan recruits a different kind of player than does Kentucky, but he was unwilling to use his platform to promote the value of continuity and experience at Calipari's expense. He chose to emphasize their commonality rather than their contrast.

"In those national championships we had (at UW-Platteville), we played in front of maybe 5,000," Ryan said. "So I don't know what it's like being in front of 75 (thousand). But. ... no matter whether it's Division I or Division III, you got to manage emotions and energy and try to channel it the right way and get everybody concentrating on what it is we do and don't try to be somebody we're not."

Great coaches are not cloned. They demonstrate a wide range of styles — sometimes by the same coach on different days — and some variance in their skill set. Some coaches are better motivators than teachers. Some are better technicians than others. Some are more charismatic recruiters. Though society tends to celebrate those who succeed on the biggest stages, no coach has a monopoly on competence.

"I look out there at our profession," Bo Ryan said, "and think about all those coaches that haven't had a chance to coach in the Final Four who are as bright and as sharp and as tough and as good a mentor as anybody you would ever want to see who might not ever have a chance to do this.:

He said he was the same person he was three weeks ago. He declined to be defined by the Final Four.